


you find your own family (or make it yourself)

by Starrie_Wolf



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Found Family, Gen, High Fantasy, Schools as Shifter Packs, Shifter AU, SportsFest 2019 Bonus Round 3 fill, perseverance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 04:01:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20352037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starrie_Wolf/pseuds/Starrie_Wolf
Summary: The Karasuno Pack has always been small. But ever since the freak avalanche that killed off half of the pack three years ago – the same event that forced an unprepared youth into the position of pack leader overnight – the pack’s size has shrunk to single digits.It's a problem that Daichi has to deal with.





	you find your own family (or make it yourself)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for DreamWidth user onceakoala  
[Prompt: Shifter AU](https://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/22368.html?thread=2879584#cmt2879584)

The Karasuno Pack has always been small, Daichi knows that for a fact. But ever since the freak avalanche that killed off half of the pack three years ago – the same event that forced an unprepared youth into the position of pack leader overnight – the pack’s size has shrunk to single digits.  
  
They haven’t even able to muster up a team for the annual Inter-Pack Hunts for the past three years, because they simply haven’t had enough _people_ to send. One more year like this, and they’d be struck off the pack register altogether.  
  
It’s led to talk, here and there, that the former Champions of the Hunt have become flightless crows, their wings plucked and claws trimmed into domesticity.

* * *

Daichi cracks an eye open when Kōshi’s fingers stop in their mindless motion of combing through his fur, and he whines a little bit, both in protest and as a question.  
  
There’s no threat around that he can sense: the junior pack members are playing with a ball in the nearby clearing under the supervision of Takeda, Ukai’s skinning the bear they took down this morning, Kiyoko’s gone to the stream to fetch more water, and Azumane’s off to make sure there aren’t any more predators lurking about their territory.  
  
"There’s no point in worrying about things you can’t change," Kōshi says suddenly, without looking at him. He’s staring into the distance where the junior members are playing, just barely visible from their vantage point atop the Pride Rock they’re sprawled on, Kōshi snuggled up against his back in deference to the early autumn chill.  
  
It’s a well-worn argument between them. Daichi lets his tongue loll out, settling back down on his paws. He’s the pack leader, and sometimes he just _worries_, even if he knows intellectually that there’s nothing he could’ve done, no way of saving their packmates from that avalanche, no way of enticing new shifters into joining a motley pack that has nothing to offer them. They aren’t like Datekō over in the next mountain range with its impenetrable defences, or Aoba Jōsai with its overwhelming strength, or even Nekoma with… well, Nekoma only takes in feline shifters anyway, so it’s sort of a moot point.  
  
He headbutts Kōshi’s hand pointedly.  
  
Kōshi laughs in surprise, finally meeting his gaze. His eyes are a gorgeous hazel, his hair tinted the same silver shade as his fur – not that Daichi has seen much of it in the past three years. Kōshi tends to stay in human form these days, even when they bed down at night, choosing to use Daichi and Azumane as makeshift duvets instead of shifting into his own fur.  
  
They don’t talk about it. Daichi tries not to think about the fact that had Kōshi been in wolf form three years ago, he would’ve gone right over the edge of the cliff when the avalanche hit, without the benefit of having opposable thumbs and fingers to cling on to an outcrop until Daichi found him. It’s not in their nature to dwell, but sometimes…  
  
Kōshi frowns, sitting up. “Do you hear that?”  
  
Daichi shakes his head, getting to his paws. Kōshi’s hearing has always been better than his, his awareness of their territory more well-developed.  
  
“I thought –” Kōshi cuts himself off, scrambling off the rock and taking off at a run.  
  
It’s the work of seconds for Daichi to catch up, Kōshi’s two legs no match for his four paws, and by then he too can hear what caught Kōshi’s attention in the first place.  
  
Azumane’s back, but he’s in human form, and he’s not alone.  
  
“Found these two,” he says shortly, depositing a raggedly bundle of feathers and a bigger ball of fur at their feet.  
  
The black feathers uncurled into the _tiniest_ shifter Daichi has ever seen, his orange beak barely coming up to Daichi’s forelimbs. He’s a… raven? No, a crow? The other ball of fur turns out to be a black fox, with the same flinty eyes that always reminds Daichi sharply of Oikawa.  
  
Are they… lost?  
  
The crow shakes himself, shifting back to human form. He’s not much bigger in this form either, practically the same height as Yū, with a crown of orange-coloured hair and a determined expression on his face.  
  
“I’m Hinata Shōyō, this bastard is Kageyama Tobio, and we want to join your pack,” he declares.  
  
The black fox twists himself into human form too, a massive scowl upon his face, but he doesn’t contradict Hinata’s words.  
  
Daichi and Kōshi exchange a deeply bemused look.  
  
“Uh…” Kōshi says, when it becomes clear that the two newcomers have no intention to elaborate. “Why?”  
  
“I’m a fan of the Small Giant!” Hinata chirps brightly. “He used to be in Karasuno?”  
  
It’s a reasonable request, Daichi supposes. There are few enough bird-shifters out there that many packs don’t welcome them the way Karasuno would.  
  
Kageyama’s scowl darkens further when they look at him, but Daichi can’t smell any aggression from him, only frustration. “… I didn’t get into Shiratorizawa,” he finally admits in a mumble.  
  
Kōshi stares, and Daichi can’t blame him. Even if he doesn’t get into Shiratorizawa, there are plenty of packs out there – if he was even a viable consideration for Shiratorizawa at all, he would’ve been a perfect member for just about any other pack out there.  
  
“So I want to beat them to prove that I can,” Kageyama finishes in a rush.  
  
Daichi hums, and then twists his body up, shifting into his own human form. “So you chose a pack where you’d be guaranteed a starter position in the Inter-Pack Hunts,” he points out bluntly. Another pack, and a newcomer like Kageyama would’ve been relegated to reserve, or even spectator… but he’s right. Karasuno doesn’t have that kind of luxury, not if they want to stay on the pack register and hold on to their territory.  
  
Kageyama’s fists clench, and in his eyes Daichi can see the same thirst for victory that has dogged his dreams for the past three years.  
  
“Well,” he says gruffly, holding out a hand. “Welcome to Karasuno, then.”

**Author's Note:**

> [My Fic Discord](https://discord.gg/8yJVmbD) | [My Tumblr](http://starriewolf.tumblr.com/)


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